Gurgle the Greek

Smitty

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 December 2010
Messages
1,501
Location
South West
Visit site
Just read a post in NL joking about a shetland pony doing Badminton, saying there was nothing in the rules to penalise them going under the fence rather than over it.

Now, if my very hazy memory serves me correctly, did not GtG successfully go under the Coffin in the early 70s without a penalty when the rules merely stated that you had to get to the other side of the fence, thus resuting in a change in the rules to state over the fence?
 

kerilli

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 April 2002
Messages
27,417
Location
Lovely Northamptonshire again!
Visit site
yes, but it was the trakhener, not the coffin. it was a very wet, muddy year and he put the brakes on and slithered into the ditch a bit sideways, luckily she ducked and he somehow scrambled out the other side with her still clinging on like a limpet!
 

j1ffy

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 January 2009
Messages
4,213
Location
Oxon
Visit site
Wow! I love the horse's expression, he doesn't look at all put-out - I wonder if he meant to do that?!
 

Wigglypigs

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 April 2008
Messages
1,742
Visit site
Glad I stumbled upon this thread....really put a smile on my face, what a brave horse and rider to carry on
 

Zebedee

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 January 2006
Messages
6,444
Visit site
I remember the fuss the fence judge (Willy Poole?) gave it clear. Someone objected & she was eliminated, the fence judge pointed out the rules stated 'pass between the flags' which she had done. Eventually she was reinstated, but as someone has rightly already said the rules were rewritten for the following year !
 

thumperbos

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 July 2009
Messages
91
Location
Auchinleck Estate, Ayrshire
Visit site
My mum remembers this as it was her first time at Badminton. She says that fence was no. 4 on the course, a huge scary ditch which eliminated somewhere between 27-30 horses!!
She was told to shut her eyes, kick, and the horse would make nothing of it...luckily her trainer was right!
 

kerilli

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 April 2002
Messages
27,417
Location
Lovely Northamptonshire again!
Visit site
My mum remembers this as it was her first time at Badminton. She says that fence was no. 4 on the course, a huge scary ditch which eliminated somewhere between 27-30 horses!!
She was told to shut her eyes, kick, and the horse would make nothing of it...luckily her trainer was right!

ooh, who is your mum? or, if that's too much to put on here, what was her horse's name? i bet she has lots more great stories of eventing back then.
 

punk

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 July 2008
Messages
766
Visit site
Yeah but they go through not over ?

Ha ha!! You are right!!! I suppose you could see a trakhener as a very 'low' owl hole!!:eek:

That pic of G the G does bring back the memories of much more 'airy' fences, with no built up ground line. You can imagine sliding into that ditch from some way out on a very wet day - nothing to stop the slide!!:D
 

oldvic

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 December 2008
Messages
1,652
Visit site
ooh, who is your mum? or, if that's too much to put on here, what was her horse's name? i bet she has lots more great stories of eventing back then.

If it's who I think it is, she was a super rider, had a lovely little mare and rode a big brown horse for Alex Colquhoun! I don't remember the fence being as early as fence 4 - there was a very difficult coffin early on and the Stockholm fence was along the Vicarage Ditch quite near the Irish Bank.

The rules have been re-worded that no fence must be built that it is possible for a horse to go under so it is geared to the course designer/technical delegate/ground jury, rather than the riders.
 

Smitty

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 December 2010
Messages
1,501
Location
South West
Visit site
Kerelli: Thank you for that - have spent years wondering how the hell they BOTH managed to squeeze under the coffin. That would have been 'Keepers Rails' I presume. I think I would have gone underneath as well!

Alibear: I remember your mum riding.

Still have a 1973 programme somewhere and could tell you how GtG was bred, but quite a few of them were by HIS stallions in those days. My favourite, Topper Too, was by Quality Fair if I remember correctly.
 
Top